‘Light the Way’ presents a trail of mesmerising displays and is a collaboration between Peabody and Bexley Council’s Lesnes Abbey, delivered by outdoor arts specialist Emergency Exit Arts with funding from CLEVER Cities and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Local artists taking part include Miyuki Kasahara, who will be hosting a creative lantern-making workshop; Jackson Payne, whose audio-visual holograms will be dispersed amongst the trees and shrubbery by the lakeside; Nathalie Coste whose two installations include ‘Instafrost’, an illuminated sculpture made of willow and reclaimed parachutes, inspired by the damaging effects of climate breakdown on permafrost; and TUG, produced by local artists Debo Adegoke, Alex Tuckwood and Lisa Cheung, which will see floating sculptures pulled along by radio-controlled tug boats around Southmere Lake.
Visitors can look forward to seeing ‘The Hourglass’, an impressive four-metre-high sculpture that aims to connect audiences with the idea that we are all ‘one world and one people’; and handcrafted, oversized roses that will line the entrance to Lesnes Abbey.
It’s also a chance for people to get a first look at a small-scale test version of the Fields of EveryWhen hot air balloon created by M+R (Neil Musson and Jono Retallick). The artists are currently collating stories, memories and artwork from local residents as well as people with links to Thamesmead which will be interpreted into embroidery and printed onto a 23-metre-high hot air balloon and tethered in flight above Thamesmead next summer.
